Moving up to the 1st spot in Tier 1, Zoroark Lycanroc has recently taken over the meta by copying a strategy similar to that of Golisopod Zoroark by using Heal cards and Puzzle of Time to grind out wins against the opponent. Unlike Golisopod, Lycanroc needs two attachments to get going and at times can be a rather underwhelming attacker especially when Golisopod is so popular and hits it for weakness. Using a combination of Bloodthirsty Eyes and Trade can make for some amazing field control options but overall this deck will need some more time to develop a proper Trainer engine to see if it can keep up with the Top Tier decks of the meta. Newer lists will be playing a single copy of MultiSwitch, Mew EX/Mew FCO, and potentially a few copies of Parallel City.

Total CP earned this week: 648

Golisopod Zoroark is coming off an impressive showing at the International Championship in London. Upon release, it dominated its first event being tournament legal and even took home first place. The deck focuses on consistency and draw power, which allows the deck to take advantage of cards in ways that most decks aren’t capable of doing. The flexibility and multiple uses of cards like Acerola, Guzma, and Enhanced Hammer makes the deck incredible and strong against all the Lycanroc GX decks popping up.

Total CP earned this week: 579

Sitting at 3rd place of tier 1 is Buzzwole Lycanroc. The usual lists we'll see nowadays will be based on the 2 decks that made top 8 and top 4 at Memphis Regionals. Andrew Mahone's list sports a few copies of Parallel City and Pablo Meza's had a Multi Switch which he said he would rather drop from the list for another Fighting Energy to hit Max Elixir consistently. This deck thrives off of rushing down the opponent and taking quick prizes while setting up an Octillery to help replenish the hand after a Mid or Late game N. Using a combination of Buzzwole to generate pressure against all the low HP Basic and Lycanroc to abuse quickly bring up these low HP Pokemon active, this deck is only going to get stronger as the Stage 1 meta continues to thrive.

Total CP earned this week: 96

Coming up is Vikavolt Bulu which is commonly being referred to now as KicaBulu as he has popularized a list that is being passed around and topping events. You can find his list here but the main thing to note is that it lacks Brigette to consistently get Vikavolt in play as soon as possible. With the rise of Stage 1/210 HP decks, Tapu Bulu GX gains a huge power spike off of Choice Band that allows it to outpace and overrun all Zoroark decks in the meta. I don't expect this deck to fall out of the meta until Gardevoir somehow comes back.

Total CP earned this week: 122

Description will be updated shortly.

Total CP earned this week: 147

Description will be updated shortly.

Total CP earned this week: 75

Taking home some more points is Garbodor Golisopod as it was highly popularized by Azul Griego who got 2nd at Memphis Regionals. while it was highly successful at Memphis, the deck hasn't performed well at League Cups due to it's inconsistentcies and issues handling Mid to Late game N's. This deck plays a heavy count of Enhanced Hammer to counter all the Zoroark GX decks in the format and a high count of Garbotoxin to shut off Trade. Other than that, it looks like a normal Golisopod deck that plays a high count of Acerola, Guzma, and Float Stone to stream-line First Impression.

Total CP earned this week: 65

Greninja has found new life in the meta with the support of good ole Zoroark GX. 3 players made top 8 with lists similiar to this over the past 2 weekends and most of them went into top cut as 1st or 2nd seed. Zoroark gives the deck a different early game attacker, a bit of draw consistentcy, and the ability to OHKO Giratina promo. Instead of going for the Frogadier water dupilicates setup, this deck streams out Froakie and Zoroark then uses Rare Candy to make Greninja and builds into BREAKs from there.

Total CP earned this week: 204

Even with a top 8 placing at London Internationals, Volcanion isn’t amongst the top tier decks in the meta. The deck hasn’t really lost any strength but the high presence of Gardevoir, the speed of Zoroark GX, and pressure from Buzzwole/Zoroark, this deck has a tough time keeping up with the rest of the meta. Even with type advantage against Golisopod GX, the tournament winning Golisopod GX/Zoroark GX doesn’t need to put a Golisopod to win the game if they’re able to string early damage around with Tapu Koko. Gardevoir is a tough matchup and there aren’t enough pure Metal and Grass decks running around for Volcanion to have free wins left and right. Dean Nezam's list from top 16 at Memphis Regionals has sparked some life in the deck as his list was able to keep up with Gardevoir and the new Stage 1 210 HP meta.

Total CP earned this week: 25

Description will be updated shortly.

Total CP earned this week: 32

A straight version of Zoroark that uses a myriad of techs. With Skyfield, Zoroark has a damage cap of 210 which should deal with a lot of the format. The deck also uses Zoroark BKT/BW which are very good one prize attackers against many decks. What makes this deck incredibly strong is its consistency and ability to pull off large combos. It can continually use cards such as Hex Maniac while setting up it's board. The Alolan Muk is great after the deck sets up because it can provide more control. Seismitoad EX is very good against decks such as Gardevoir, Night March, and Sableye/Garbodor. The raw damage output and consistency is what puts this deck at the top.

Total CP earned this week: 0

Night March was the king of the 2015-2016 season and a force to be reckoned with. The following season, counters to the deck were printed and it slowly faded out of the metagame. With the release of Shining Legends, Night March gained access to Zoraork GX which strengthen the deck to combat its counters. San Jose was the first Expanded Regionals with Crimson Invasion and Shining Legends, Night March took it by storm by placing three spots in Top 4 and winning the entire event. This makes it clear that Night March is back and its place at the top shouldn't be underestimated.

Total CP earned this week: 0

With the rise of Night March and Zoroark, the dependency on special energy in the format has gone way up. Toad Tina tries to exploit that dependency by abusing Giratina EX to prevent them from ever attaching energy again. This strategy is one of very few locks in the format and it will punish players who aren't prepared for it which makes this an intriguing play.

Total CP earned this week: 0

A very hard item lock that can start locking as soon as turn one. It can use energy denial or offensive cards such as Bursting Balloon. The deck strings together Trevenants with multiple Super Rods or using Rescue Scarf. It primarily uses Silent Fear to slowly take prizes. It saw a huge decrease in San Jose Regionals Because if the release of Zoroark GX. However with cards to tech in such as Espeon EX and heavy enhanced Hammer, It is possible for this deck to jump back in the Meta.

Total CP earned this week: 64

Buzzwole Lycanroc was flying a bit under the radar going into London but after having 2 solid top 8 placings, its safe to say people will start adding it to their testing circle. The most popular build is sporting an Octillery line as well as a heavy Max Elixir line to power up its attackers quickly. Using a combination of Buzzwole to generate pressure against all the low HP Basic and Lycanroc to abuse quickly bring up these low HP Pokemon active, this deck is only going to get stronger as the Stage 1 meta continues to thrive. Having type advantage against Silvally and Zoroark only gives this more strength going into major events.

Total CP earned this week: 50

Popularized by Conner Lavelle's Gardevoir list from Ft Wayne Regionals, Gardevoir finds a lot of success in Expanded due to the high presence of dark decks and the lack of a popular metal deck to combat it. Night March will continue to keep this deck out of the Tier 1 position as it's quite easy for Night March to load up 230 damage in a single turn after taking a large lead against them in the first 2 turns while get their setup going. This should remain in the Tier 2 spot until the next Solgaleo GX drops.

Total CP earned this week: 0

An extremely hard lock deck that tries run out their opponent out of resources with control and win by deck out. With Junk Hunt, the deck primarily reuses Puzzles of Time to recycle cards like Crushing Hammer, Delinquent, and many more annoying control cards to slow down their opponent. The deck also uses both Garbodor BKP/GRI to control the board even further. Garbotoxin can shut down abilities while Trashalanche gives the deck the secondary win Condition by Taking Prizes cards and gets stronger as deck the kills off their opponent resources which their item counter is getting higher. This deck underperformed at San Jose Regionals because players included Ghetsis into their deck which a weakness for Sableye.

Total CP earned this week: 0

After Drew Kennett's success at San Jose with Beached Wailord, I think this deck will see a bit more play once it adds in more Night March counters. All Zoroark variants are incredibly favored for this deck so it can take League Cups by storm if you're in a position to play 4 Tropical Beach in your deck. Considering the high time management and cost it takes to play the deck, I think this will remain in Tier 2 in the Expanded Format for some time.

Total CP earned this week: 0

The old Grant Manley special has certainly gained some popularity due to the success of Zoroark GX. It should be playing both Landorus EX, Buzzwole GX, a few Zygarde, and a 4-3 Carbink BREAK line. We could see new lists start playing 2-2 Lycanroc GX as a Korrina for an Item + Lycanroc GX is essentially a Lysandre play + an Item into hand. Considering Zoroark's popularity, I think people will start playing Wide Lens to hit Zorua and Zoroark on the bench for weakness via Hammerhead or Jet Punch. This deck is certainly goign to climb up in popularity over the next few weeks.

ABOUT US

SOME1SPC was created by Christopher Taporco, Dylan Bryan, Marc Albright, and Russell LaParre with the intention to provide quality competitive content for the Pokemon Trading Card Game. We're a group of friends looking to better ourselves and the community by leveling up our deckbuilding, gameplay, and knowledge.